President’s Report

By Marty Lorick, Triple Crown Trailers

It is a special honor and privilege to begin my term as President of the National Association of Trailer Manufacturers, and I’d like to take the opportunity in my first President’s Report to thank some of the many people that have made this journey enjoyable.

Thank you to Owen Shelton, Boatmate Trailers, our outgoing president, for his dedicated efforts over the last two years at the helm. Although Owen will no longer be a member of the Board, he will continue to serve as Past President for an additional year on the Executive Committee. Congratulations to Josh Johnson, Big Tex Trailer Manufacturing, Inc., on his elevation to Vice President. Congratulations also to Jim Berry, Dexter Axle, who will continue to serve on the Executive Board as Associate Member Representative and to Marco Garcia, U-Haul International, Inc. on who will serve as Treasurer. I look forward to continuing to work with a great team of leaders in the industry and improving the safety of our nation’s roadways.

For those of you that do not yet know me, I am Marty Lorick, Managing Member of Triple Crown Trailers. I have served on the NATM Board of Directors since 2015.

Triple Crown Trailers, LLC was established in Ocala, Fla. as a family business in 1983. The company is still family owned and operated today. We were originally located on four acres in a small residential area, primarily selling to wholesale. In 2003 we moved to our current location, which is over 50 acres. This allowed us to put more focus on our retail trailer sales, parts, and repairs. We manufacture utility, lawn, car, equipment, and hydraulic dump trailers. In recent years we have continued to expand our business to include custom fabricated truck beds, including fire, dump, landscape, and utility trucks. In 2018 we opened a second manufacturing plant in North Carolina. Most recently, we purchased a large, well-established, friendly manufacturer in Georgia, Down To Earth Trailers. We have a dealer network that is most represented in the Southeast though it stretches all the way up to Canada.

Triple Crown has been in business for 37 years. My parents would bring me to work when I was young, and my job was to pick up used lugnuts. I was paid a penny for each one. Once I graduated high school, I started getting more involved in the business. I spent many days listening to my dad talk to potential dealers and following him around while he interacted with our employees. I also spent hours listening to my mom on the phone negotiating lumber and steel costs and placing orders for all of our raw materials. In 1996 I jumped in with both feet and decided this was the path I wanted to take. I’ve never looked back.

The primary purpose of a trailer is to haul cargo from one point to another. Hauling cargo safely should be the number one goal of every trailer manufacturer. Just as cars and trucks have to pass certain standards of manufacturing in order to protect consumers, trailers also have to be built to meet required regulations. Trailers may be towed thousands of miles over the course of their lifetime, with potentially thousands of pounds of materials on their beds, with thousands of dollars’ worth of cargo. Not only do we want to protect the trailer owner’s investment in an appropriately built trailer, but NATM members that participate in the Compliance Verification Program (CVP) are also striving to protect our loved ones, community members, and fellow citizens from the risks posed by sharing the roads with a trailer that fails to meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.

I firmly believe that any company manufacturing trailers should participate in NATM’s CVP. Having an unbiased thirdparty verify that trailer manufacturers have the processes in place to build trailers that meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards is something that all manufacturers should do, as these specifications are not suggestions, but legal requirements.

There are many challenges facing the trailer industry that NATM addresses to improve the safety of the roadways, and the Association advocates on behalf of the companies and employees in the light- and medium-duty trailer industry.

Although the Association was originally founded in 1987 in an effort to get better rates for product liability insurance, its focus shifted to address the “wild west” mentality that was rampant in the trailer industry at the time. It seems the early focus for trailer manufacturing was how to build as cost effectively as possible, with anyone with a garage and a welder starting up a business. NATM’s efforts helped to change that focus to building safer trailers that met or exceeded standards with the creation of The Guidelines for Recommended Minimum Manufacturing Practices for Trailers Under 26,000 lbs. GVWR (Guidelines) in 1991.

These safety efforts grew steadily over the Association’s history and reached a turning point in 2012 when the NATM membership voted unanimously to make participation in the

NATM Compliance Verification Program mandatory for all trailer manufacturing members.

More recently, we have expanded our safety efforts from focusing on the manufacture of compliant trailers, to raising educational awareness of safe towing practices for trailer dealers and endusers most notably through NATM’s Trailer Safety Week. For more information about the fourth annual Trailer Safety Week, turn to page 16. In addition to safety, NATM is working to tackle the other top issues facing the industry including the shortage of skilled labor and rising costs.

The shortage of skilled workers in manufacturing industries across the nation is an issue that is impacting the trailer industry and will only continue to become a larger problem. As the Baby Boomer generation retires, job positions will be left unfilled as younger generations choose employment outside of manufacturing. There is also a tremendous range in the size and technical abilities of employees working in trailer manufacturing facilities, which makes the challenge to fill open positions within the industry a greater difficulty.

NATM has heard the concerns of its members and has included addressing the workforce shortage as a top priority for its 20192022 Strategic Plan. The Association will look to answer not only how to attract and retain workers in this industry, but how small manufacturers can be just as attractive employers compared to their larger counterparts within the trailer industry and compared to other industries with similar job skills needed.

One way to combat this crisis is to include diversity and inclusion initiatives within business. These initiatives can open an entirely new talent pool and increase retention of employees. NATM will be featuring a diversity and inclusion (D&I) article in the next several issues of Tracks to help educate those interested in starting their own initiatives. Various facets of diversity and inclusion will be covered as well as practical tips and resources for starting on a diversity and inclusion journey. For more information, turn to page 22.

In addition, the Association provides resources to help companies with the challenges of rising costs through the encouragement of relationship building within the industry. The NATM Convention & Trade Show provides access to suppliers from all over the world, as well as the annually printed Membership Directory & Buyer’s Guide, the Online Buyer’s Guide, and through Tracks magazine. In the coming years with the challenges listed above, along with new challenges such as autonomous vehicles, it will be more important than ever to make our political leaders aware of challenges we face. NATM and its government affairs representatives, K&L Gates, are the best advocates for the light- and medium-duty trailer industry and will continue to be successful with the involvement of the Association’s members. For more information about how you can become more involved in NATM’s government affairs initiatives such as the annual Regulatory Roundup & Capitol Hill Visits, the NATM Political Action Committee, legislative roundtables and plant tours, contact NATM Assistant Director Meghan Ryan at Meghan.Ryan@natm.com.

I look forward to serving as President of NATM over the next two years. I am confident that we will be able to continue our successes in improving safety as well as supporting the economic health of the light- and medium-duty trailer industry and its businesses. Thank you to all of you, NATM’s Membership, for your dedication and support. Without your membership dues, advertising support, sponsorship and participation in the Compliance Verification Program, we would have never been able to achieve as much as we have over the last 34 years.